Minimum wage hearings take place across New York state

The push for increasing minimum wage in New York state is taking place in hearings across the state. Central New Yorkers were able to chime in on the issue at a hearing in Syracuse today.

Millie Martinez of Syracuse needed help from an interpreter to tell of her plight at the minimum wage hearing in Syracuse today.

"The wage an hour is $7.75 and it is difficult for me to support my kids with that," her translator said.

She was one of several Central New Yorkers urging lawmakers to raise the state's minimum pay from $7.75 to $8.50 an hour. Many, like Jerry Dennis of the Service Employees Union, noted that even $8.50 isn't enough to live on in this day and age.

"The living wage in this country is about $13 an hour without health insurance, so even $8.50 is a far cry from that," Dennis said.

On the other side of the issue are people representing businesses. They say that raising the minimum wage would kill job opportunities. Ted Potrikus, of the New York State Retail Council, says their biggest concern is the bill the Assembly is considering that would cause yearly minimum wage increases in line with the Consumer Price Index.

"Seeing a permanently fixed requirement that requires that minimum wage to go up year after year is something that really does concern them; about their ability to bring on new people and to keep their current staff happy," Potrikus said.